SYDNEY, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll on Australian employees with many complaining of feeling "burned out" by increased workloads or worried about returning to their workplaces and many are actively searching for a new, less stressful job.
The list of grievances is based on a national survey of more than 1,000 workers compiled in December by ELMO Software, a company that specializes in human resources and rostering issues.
The latest report of ELMO Employee Sentiment Index found that 45 percent of respondents felt burned out, an 11 percent rise from the start of last year.
The report also found that mental health days for weary workers had also become more frequent throughout the year.
In the first quarter of 2021, 12 percent said they had taken a mental health day, and that figure grew to 17 percent by December.
ELMO chief executive Danny Lessem told Xinhua on Thursday that burn-out was having a "startling" effect on workers during the pandemic, noting that the psychological impact was being felt across all industries.
"Coinciding with greater burn-out is elevated feelings of being overwhelmed with workloads," the report noted.
The report consequently noted that one in three workers planned to quit their current job when they could find a new one, while one in five expected to leave even without another job on the horizon.
Lessem said the potentially high turnover of staff "should act as a warning to employers to meet their employees' expectations".
Other notable statistics included 22 percent of workers wanting to take a career break in 2022 and 42 percent expecting to continue to work from home part-time.
Lessem said employers would need to manage the spread of COVID-19 in their workplaces as almost 70 percent of employees were concerned about catching the disease at work. And 76 percent of workers now accept that vaccinations should be mandatory for employment, a 6 percent increase from the September quarter.
"Our research makes it clear that the workplace of tomorrow will be very different to the workplace of today," he said. ■